U.S. National Teamer and Olympian Dana Vollmer (Granbury, Texas) also turned in the fastest time in the world this year in the women's 100m fly (57.66), as did Irish swimmer Barry Murphy in the men's 100m breaststroke (1:00.77), and Tunisian Olympian Ous Mellouli in the men's 400m IM (4:13.80).
Phelps came out on top of the 200m free by more than seven-tenths of a second over runner-up Mellouli (1:47.01) and third-place finisher Dominik Meichtry of Switzerland (1:48.90).
In the 100m fly, Phelps won by a body-length, touching ahead of Brazil's Kaio de Almeida (52.58) and Japan's Masayuki Kishida (53.41). "I said to myself if I was under 1:47 in the 200 free, I'd be really happy, and when I saw 46.2, it kind of surprised me a little bit," Phelps said. "It was the best time in the world, so I'll take it. I'm definitely happy."
Vollmer turned in the fastest time in the world this year in the women's 100m butterfly twice Thursday, once in prelims (58.09) and then again in finals. She won the event by more than a second with 2008 Olympian Elaine Breeden (Lexington, Ky.) touching second in 58.87, and Kristel Vourna finishing third in 59.56.
Other U.S. National Teamers taking gold in Indianapolis Thursday were Katie Hoff (Towson, Md.) in the women's 200m freestyle (1:57.97) and Jessica Hardy (Long Beach, Calif.) in the women's 100m breaststroke (1:07.31). Olympian Julia Smit (Mt. Sinai, N.Y.) won the 400m IM in 4:44.53.
Hoff's time in the 200m free was the second-fastest in the world this year. Finishing second behind her was fellow National Teamer Missy Franklin (Centennial, Colo.) in 1:58.75 and Olympian Kate Ziegler (Great Falls, Va.) in 1:59.89.
The 2011 Indianapolis Grand Prix runs through Saturday, March 5. The event will be webcast LIVE each day beginning at 9 a.m. ET for prelims and 6 p.m. ET for finals at www.usaswimming.org/Indianapolisgrandprix. Friday's finals will also air in a two-hour show on Universal Sports from 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.
2010-2011 USA Swimming Grand Prix Swim Meet Series
- Minnesota Grand Prix 12-14 Nov, 2010
Minneapolis, MN - Austin Grand Prix 14-17 Jan, 2011
Austin, TX - Missouri Grand Prix 18-21 Feb, 2011
Columbia, MO - Indianapolis Grand Prix 3-5 Mar, 2011
Indianapolis, IN - Michigan Grand Prix 8-10 Apr, 2011
Ann Arbor, MI - Charlotte UltraSwim Grand Prix 12-15 May, 2011
Charlotte, NC - Santa Clara International Grand Prix 16-19 Jun, 2011
Santa Clara, CA
Television and online coverage will also be provided of all 2010-2011 USA Swimming Grand Prix events. Universal Sports will broadcast the Austin Grand Prix (January 14-17), the Missouri Grand Prix (February 18-21), the Indianapolis Grand Prix (March 3-5) and the Michigan Grand Prix (April 8-10). Online coverage of all seven events will be provided by Swimnetwork.com and Universalsports.com.
This is the fourth year in a row that prize money has been awarded to the overall point leader of the Grand Prix Series. In its inaugural year in 2008, Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps took home the prize. The 2009 purse went to National Team swimmer Mary DeScenza and Chloe Sutton took home $20,000 in 2010.
The scoring system awards swimmers points based on gold, silver and bronze-medal performances at each of the eight meets. A gold medal earns a swimmer five points, a silver medal is worth three points and a bronze medal is one point. The standings integrate male and female participants, recognizing the swimmer with the highest cumulative point total. In the event of a tie, the winner will be the swimmer who earned the highest single-race FINA power point ranking. Leaders will be tracked online at www.usaswimming.org and in Splash magazine, the official magazine of USA Swimming.
